In a dramatic show of defiance, the cast of Verdi’s opera Aida appeared on stage at the Cairo Opera House last week to make an announcement: they weren’t performing. Thus kicked off their protest of what they said is a “detailed plan” to destroy Egypt’s artistic expression by the newly appointed culture minister.

Artists and administrative staff of the opera company began their strike after Alaa Abdelaziz, Egypt’s new minister of culture, sacked the opera company director Ines Abdel-Dayem and the head of Egypt’s fine arts sector, Salah El-Meleigy. Staffers have closed the curtain on all performances, accusing President Mohammed Morsi and his ruling party of trying to strip Egyptians of their culture and artistic heritage.

Despite missing the performance of Aida, the spectators came out on the side of the artists. In a video posted on YouTube, the audience can be seeing chanting in support of the protesters, with shouts of “Bravo, Long Live Egypt” and of “Irhal,” or “leave,” the Arabic word that was one of the mantras in the protests that eventually brought down President Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Morsi’s predecessor, more than two years ago.

“As artists and administration staff of the Egyptian Opera House, we have decided to abstain from performing tonight’s showing of opera Aida as a start to bringing down the curtain on all performances and activities of the opera until the minister of culture is removed from his position,” said Nayer Nagui, principal conductor and artistic director of the Cairo Opera House Orchestra.

Mr. Abdelaziz, who said the shakeup was to bring new faces to the art and culture programs, is widely known among his critics to be a supporter of Mr. Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Opera House artists, who have been striking for over a week now, are not convinced.

“Even if he says he wants to appoint new blood, this is not true because we have several young artists who are very qualified. Instead of choosing one of them, he decided to appoint an administrative employee to be our leader,” said Neveen Allouba, a member of the Cairo Opera Company, who joined the Opera House in 1989.

Ms. Allouba, 55 years-old, says the Opera House is like a second home to her. Like many other Egyptian artists, she is afraid that their lifestyles and livelihoods will be threatened by the policies and cultural attitudes of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“We need an artist, someone who is involved in the culture scene and can understand our problems and visions,” she said. “Instead, the Brotherhood want to implement their plan at any cost and diminish people’s personalities and character.”

Although Mr. Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood repeatedly signaled assurances to artists and women that the state will not interfere in their freedoms, many are still concerned as ultra-conservative Islamists become more vocal in the public sphere. Artists are worried that the government has been undergoing a slow “radicalization” since Mr. Morsi was elected last June.

An ultra-conservative Salafist member of Egypt’s legislature, the upper house of parliament, recently demanded the banning of ballet performances, calling it an “art of the nudes.”

“The Opera is not a cabaret, we have received no response from the culture ministry yet, this is really very dangerous because this is the start of the diminishing of Egyptian culture and anything that’s artistic,” Ms. Allouba said.